In 2001, approximately 13,000,000 lbs. of wood chips or chunks were shipped and sold in the U.S. to be used in smokers and grills (both charcoal and gas) for adding flavor to foods. Of this very sizeable number, many of these wood chips or chunks were soaked in water (or wine, beer, etc.) and drained prior to use in the smokers or grills. This soaking, and subsequent draining, is preferred so that the wood chips or chunks won't burn up too fast but will linger in a smoke-producing state long enough to provide the desired smoke flavor in the foods.
The current method used to soak and drain the wood chips or chunks is to put the required amount of wood chips or chunks into a container, let them soak for a sufficient amount of time, and strain the wood chips or chunks out of the container. The straining is usually done by hand, as is a shaking off of excess water and a subsequent distribution of the wood chips or chunks onto a charcoal fire in the smoker or grill. This is a very tedious process and is done handful by handful of wood chips or chunks. The process works but is messy, it doesn't uniformly soak or drain the wood chips or chunks, and it has limitations when an appropriate container is not readily available.